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Monday, July 13, 2009

AotW: Leslie Winer - Witch

NEWLY UPDATED WITH LINKS TO mp3s - I HOPE...

The world can be divided into two groups: the tiny few people who think this is one of the great records of the 90s, and the vast majority, who haven’t heard it. I got a cassette copy of this from my brother, who’d copied it from a friend – I think most people have discovered it by similarly circuitous means.

I can tell you very little about Leslie Winer, though there are bits and pieces on the internet. She was apparently a successful model in the 80s. This is, as far as I know, the only thing she recorded. It came out in 1991, I think – several years before the trip-hop its sound presages. Jah Wobble plays bass.

Like the new blue linkys & purple comments. Does clash a little with the trad beige background & poo coloured lettering. Someone wake up our interior designer (& if we could shorten the page length to lighten the memory load the overworked & outdated shoephone would be very grateful).

Hope the much appreciated page truncating doesn't cause premature drop off - always unpleasant when that happens. Perhaps our esteemed essayists (you know who you are) could post lengthy text as an initial comment, rather than in the main body of the post?

Shoephone has cooled down considerably & can now be held by hand as God/ Steve Jobs intended.

OK, and another comment in a similar vein. There's a selection of music making the rounds courtesy the US postal service and the makers of flash drives and Shoey at this end, here's some of it:RR Social May 2007RR North Social Sep07RR BookLaunch Social Apr 08RR Non-Social CD Swaps 2007Spill PodcastsFestive Spill #3sFestive Spill #2sRun JAMC.mp3Folder.jpgHere's an example of what's inside several of those folders:15 Southern Man.wma12 People.wma03 Beggin'.wma14 Guess I'm Dumb.wma07 Wilmot.wma18 The End Of The World.wma02 Ani-Kuni.wma17 At Last I Am Free.wma13 Daybreaker (Four Tet Remix).wma16 Held Down.wma05 Give My Everything.wma01 Bird's Lament.wma04 Total Destruction Of Your Mind.wma08 Planet Caravan.wma06 Exuma Obeah Man.wma19 Can't Explain (Ulrich Schnauss Remix).wma09 Da Art Of Storytellin' (Pt1).wma10 Ta Douleur.wma11 69 Police.wma

My Mac doesn't recognise .wma so I can't open or play any of these, anyone have any suggestions re. how to convert 'em?In the meantime can I suggest that all musical posts be in the MP3 format.I've copied the entire folder just in case someone has the solution.

Glad you got DsD's memory stick GF. A quick google search for free WMA conversion software should do the trick. EJD found one that worked for him in a thread a couple of months back. If still having problems, can convert & resend this end. Can't help on the blank titles though - but have enjoyed playing detective & tracking them down.

For file conversion I use Switch, which may have been Ejay's suggestion, it should be available as freeware, you can google it. It converts all the music file types, mp4, mp3, wma etc. to a format of your choice.

What's with the blue links? I blame mobile phone masts, they were behind the Thatcher thing the whole time.

I like it.. reminds me a lot of Kruder and Dorfmeister, especially Flove- G-stone was doing this sort of dub-electronic thing around the same time, I think. Some of the vocals also remind me of Carmen Lundy's work for Kip Hanrahan.

@nilpfred - didn't know Kruder & Dorfmeister, but have just been having a listen on Spotify - good stuff, though for me this album is as much about the lyrics as the atmospherics.

Somebody nominated a Kip Hanrahan track a few weeks ago - can't remember the song or topic, but do remember having a search to see if it was Leslie Winer on vocals - so certainly agree with that comparison.

This is a great post.If anyone is interested someone called madamlevy posted videos to all the tracks about a year ago.. now this wouldn’t normally be such a treat.. slightly obsessed fan goes movie making nuts, I hear you cry….. but… but…

They also posted ‘Battle Porn’ and ’Crewel Work’ (shoey check em out ye might like) from the UN-Released follow up LP ‘3 bags full’I was pretty impressed (not tough I know) I don’t know who is responsible or if Leslie Winer knows –or indeed if it’s self done.

I've been Googling around trying to find out more about either of these albums, but no joy. But it appears Leslie Winer and Madame Levy are one and the same. Found this:

"Leslie Winer is Madame Levy, blogging from France at La Vache Qui Lit. She is the godmother of trip hop or something, an old associate of William Burroughs and Gregory Corso, a one time high fashion model, the mother of four or five girls and a no nonsense genius."

Her blog, though, seems to need authentication (http://lavachequilit.typepad.com). All very intriguing.

nlipferd - apologies, I must have had you confused with Sandford... No, I missed your Kip Hanrahan AOTW - will try and catch up sometime.

Shoey & Ejay: Thanks for the 'Switch' tip, it works! But I think I'll pass on the un-named cuts, there's way too many and all the named conversions and MP3's will keep me happy for quite a while, thanks again.

Oh hell, I'm more of a fuddy-duddy than I thought. I've been listening to the first few tracks, all the way through, and the overwhelming feeling I had was 'When is this going to start?' I understand the value of repetition, and the use of sound and depth manipulation is quite mesmerising, but I felt like I needed the right medication. However, I then realised that the bass in 'Boy Who Used 2 Whistle' was actually making me feel a little nauseous. So I've stopped.